Trauma-informed Care

1000th person trained in Trauma, Resilience, Trauma-Informed Care

1000. That’s the number of people in Lancaster County who have now completed one of the trauma trainings I’ve led with our team of trainers through the #RMOforReturningCitizens and partners over the past 18 months. This is a pretty significant milestone in the collective community effort toward making Lancaster County a trauma-informed community.

We set out a vision several years ago to “build the foundation for a trauma-informed criminal justice system in Lancaster County.” And with this milestone, we’re well on our way . . .

After Trauma: A focus on strengths, competencies and resilience

A recent article on the international ACES Connection online community highlighted the importance of focusing on people’s strengths and competencies, rather than shortcomings and deficiencies.

Author of the article, Dana Brown, writes, “This over-focus, while not characterizing all policies and programs, is still too common, nevertheless. It has shaped research as well as social programs. During service delivery, collection of the adverse details about people’s lives is often necessary but it is not sufficient.

Trauma trainings for Lancaster County corrections and parole officers

I recently led 7 days of training about trauma, resilience, ACEs and the links to addiction, mental health issues and criminal justice system involvement for about 400 corrections officers and parole officers in Lancaster County through my role as Director of the RMO for Returning Citizens. We trained the entire staff of Lancaster County Adult Probation and Parole, and the entire staff of Lancaster County Prison . . .

Trauma-Informed Criminal Justice: Reflections on first round of training

I recently completed a first round of trainings about trauma for Lancaster County Prison staff and staff of Lancaster County Adult Probation and Parole, along with my wonderful training team (details below). Here are some reflections on lessons learned from this first phase of our work to build the foundation for a trauma-informed criminal justice system in Lancaster County . . .

How being trauma-informed improves criminal justice responses

“Although prevalence estimates vary, there is consensus that high percentages of justice-involved women and men have experienced serious trauma throughout their lifetime. The reverberating effects of traumatic experiences can challenge a person’s capacity for recovery and pose significant barriers to accessing services, often resulting in an increased risk of coming into contact with the criminal justice system.” – SAMHSAGAINS Center – “How Being Trauma-Informed Improves Criminal Justice System Responses”

In our previous series of articles about the connections between trauma, addiction, mental health and crime, I presented . . .

As mentioned in the previous article on trauma, ACEs and links to crime, addiction, and mental illness, various studies have found that early psychological trauma may actually cause lasting changes in the brain that are connected with addictions, mental illness and aggressive or violent behavior later in life.

What do these changes in the brain actually look like? The Family Policy Council of Washington State created a presentation on “The High Cost of Adverse Childhood Experiences.” Here are a few of the slides from that presentation that explain the changes in the chemical and physical development of the brain (“Biological Effects of Abuse & Neglect”) that occur with various traumatic experiences during childhood…